Locking assembly and method

ABSTRACT

A locking arrangement ( 1 ) for releasably locking a wear tooth ( 2 ) to a tooth adaptor ( 3 ); the wear tooth ( 2 ) being defined by a top wall, a bottom wall and a pair of opposed sidewalls, each sidewall having an elongate slot ( 5 ) therethrough; the tooth adaptor ( 3 ) being of generally complementary shape to receive said wear tooth ( 2 ), and having an elongate cavity ( 6 ) on each opposed side thereof adapted to substantially align with a respective slot ( 5 ) of said wear tooth ( 2 ) when said wear tooth is installed on said tooth adaptor; said slot having a first inner surface, the locking arrangement including a retaining means ( 4 ) to be installed in each aligned cavity and slot to releasably lock said tooth ( 2 ) to said adaptor ( 3 ), the retaining means ( 4 ) including a pair of engaging retaining pieces ( 7, 8 ) adapted to fit in end-abutting relationship when in said locked position, whereby, an arcuate force is applied to at least one of said pieces ( 7, 8 ) to release said pieces from said locked position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a locking assembly and to a method oflocking a wear tooth to a tooth adaptor, typically utilised in themining, agricultural, or other earthmoving industries.

In particular, the present invention relates to a locking assemblywhich, by provision of a retaining means in a dual part format, variousadvantages are achieved.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and shouldnot be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that thatprior art forms part of the common general knowledge in Australia

Various locking arrangements are presently known, for locking one ormore wear tooth to it's respective tooth adaptor(s).

Traditionally, such teeth are welded to the tooth adaptor such that asthe tooth wears out, the old tooth is removed and replaced by a newtooth, which is welded into position.

In more recent times, various methods for the removable attachment ofsuch teeth and other wear plates have been developed, eliminatingwelding operations. All such systems, however, generally include atleast one through hole or orifice on a vertical or horizontal plane,through which a pin is inserted, however, such systems have thedisadvantage that the strength of the devices are compromised.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide a locking assembly for releasablyretaining a wear tooth to a tooth adaptor which provides certainadvantages, or at least an alternative to presently known assemblies.

The present invention seeks to provide a locking assembly which enablesa quick and easy secure locking and unlocking of the various componentsto be achieved.

In one broad form, the present invention provides a locking arrangementfor releasably locking a wear tooth to a tooth adaptor; the wear toothhaving an elongate slot provided in a wall thereof; the tooth adaptorbeing of generally complementary shape to receive said wear tooth, andhaving an elongate cavity adapted to substantially align with arespective slot of said wear tooth when said wear tooth is installed onsaid tooth adaptor; said slot having a first inner surface, the lockingarrangement including a retaining means to be installed in each alignedcavity and slot to releasably lock said tooth to said adaptor, theretaining means including separate engaging retaining pieces adapted tofit in end-abutting relationship when in said locked position, whereby,an arcuate force is applied to at least one of said pieces to releasesaid pieces from said locked position.

Preferably, at least one of said retaining pieces is formed at leastpartly of an elastomeric material.

Also preferably, a second end of a first retaining piece is formed atleast partly from an elastomeric material.

Preferably, a first end of said first retaining piece is provided with aprotruding portion adapted to retain a rearwardly positioned lipprovided on a first end of a second retaining piece when in said lockedposition, whereby, to release said pieces from said locked position,said second piece is pivoted about its second end by applying a force inan arcuate manner to said second retaining piece, such that saidelastomeric material is at least partly compressed and said lip is movedforwardly past said protrusion.

Also preferably, said second retaining piece is formed with an orificethereon adapted to receive a lever therein via said slot, such that saidarcuately directed form may be applied for release of said retainingpieces.

Preferably, said second retaining piece includes a striking pad, forimparting a striking force thereto to engage said retaining pieces insaid locked position.

Also preferably, said first end of second retaining piece includes aforward portion abutting said first inner surface of said wear toothslot, such that said forward portion is releasably-retained in a forwarddirection when said retainer pieces are in said locked position,

In a most preferred form, the present invention provides a lockingarrangement for releasably locking a wear tooth to a tooth adaptor, thewear tooth being defined by a top wall, a bottom wall and a pair ofopposed sidewalls, each sidewall having an elongate slot therethrough;the tooth adaptor being of generally complementary shape to receive saidwear tooth, and having an elongate cavity on each opposed side thereofadapted to substantially align with a respective slot of said wear toothwhen said wear tooth is installed on said tooth adaptor; said slothaving a first inner surface, the locking arrangement including aretaining means to be installed in each aligned cavity and slot toreleasably lock said tooth to said adaptor, the retaining meansincluding a pair of engaging retaining pieces adapted to fit inend-abutting relationship when in said locked position, whereby, anarcuate force is applied to at least one of said pieces to release saidpieces from said locked position.

In another broad form, the present invention provides a lockingarrangement for releasably locking a wear tooth to a tooth adaptor;wherein

-   -   the wear tooth includes an elongate slot provided in a wall        thereof having a first inner surface;    -   the tooth adaptor being of generally complementary shape to        receive said wear tooth, and having an elongate cavity adapted        to substantially align with a respective slot of said wear tooth        when said wear tooth is installed on said tooth adaptor;    -   the locking arrangement including        -   retaining pieces;        -   a rigid bracket piece (bridge) extending across a portion of            the adaptor slot, and    -   a locking piece which communicates with, and releasably locks,        said retaining pieces relative to each other in an end-abutting        relationship when installed in each aligned cavity and slot,        wherein said bracket piece substantially restrains the        releasably locked retaining pieces in the wear tooth slot and        tooth adaptor cavity.

Preferably the said retainer pieces includes a first retainer piece anda second retaining piece.

Preferably the first retainer piece includes a threaded slot or hole forreceiving the locking piece.

Preferably the second retainer piece includes a threaded slot or holefor receiving the locking piece.

Preferably the locking piece is a threaded screw.

Preferably a first end of said first retaining piece is provided with aprotruding portion for receiving a rearwardly positioned lip provided ona first end of said second retaining piece when in said locked position.

Preferably the first retainer piece threaded slot and the secondretainer piece threaded slot are substantially aligned for mutuallyreceiving the locking piece when retaining pieces are installed in thewear tooth slots and tooth adaptor cavity in the locked position.

Preferably the rigid bracket piece is removably mounted to the adaptor.

Preferably the rigid bracket piece extends transversely across a portionof the adaptor slot.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be become more fully understood from thefollowing detailed description of preferred but non-limitingembodiments, described in connection with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an isometric view of a first embodiment of thelocking assembly in accordance with the present invention in itsassembled position;

FIG. 2 illustrates an isometric view of the locking assembly in anexploded form;

FIG. 3 details the wear tooth;

FIG. 4 details the tooth adaptor;

FIG. 5 illustrates the two part retaining means, FIG. 5(a) illustratinga first part and FIG. 5(b) illustrating a second part;

FIG. 6 illustrates a partly exploded view of the assembly, with thetooth connector to the tooth adaptor ready for insertion of theretaining means;

FIG. 7 illustrates a first step of the insertion of the retaining means;

FIG. 8 illustrates a similar view to FIG. 7, showing a second step inthe insertion of the retaining means;

FIG. 9 illustrates the retaining means inserted into position;

FIG. 10 illustrates the forces inherent in the device shown in FIGS. 1to 9, when in use;

FIG. 11 illustrates a second embodiment of the locking mechanism deviceof the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a sectional view of the locking and unlocking of theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 illustrates an exploded view of another embodiment of thepresent invention including a first retainer piece, a second retainerpiece, a locking piece, and a bracket piece extending across a portionof the wear tooth slot;

FIG. 14 illustrates a top view of another embodiment of the presentinvention in which the second retainer pieces are being pivotallyinserted into the wear tooth slots and tooth adaptor cavities; and,

FIG. 15 illustrates a top view of another embodiment of the presentinvention wherein the locking pin is releasably locking the retainerpieces together.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Throughout the drawings, like numerals will be used to identify similarfeatures, except where expressly otherwise indicated.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 10 of the drawings, a locking assembly, generallydesignated by the numeral 1, include a wear tooth 2 adapted to beretained on a tooth adaptor 3 by means of retaining means, whichgenerally designated by the numeral 4. As will be readily observed fromthe drawings, the locking assembly of this embodiment of the presentinvention is characterised by being provided with at least one, butpreferably two, slots 5, in the or each side portions of the tooth 2,such that they cooperate with corresponding slots 6 in each side of thetooth adaptor when in the engaged position, to then receive retainingmeans 4.

The retaining means 4 of the present invention includes a pair ofcooperating parts, a first part 7 having a shaped edge surface adaptedto cooperate with a complementary shaped edge surface of second part 8.The shaped edge surface 10 of the second part 8 of the retaining means 4is provided with a lip 11 adapted to be provided rearwardly of aprotruding part 12 of the shaped edge surface 13 of the first part 7 ofretaining means 4, as detailed in FIG. 5.

The cooperating parts 7 and 8 of the retaining means 4 are assembled byfirstly providing the first part 7 into the position shown in FIG. 7within the cooperating slots. Thereafter, the second part 8 is insertedin the manner illustrated in FIG. 8 to a position shown in FIG. 9 suchthat the lip 11 is forced past the protruding portion 12 of the firstpart 7 and is effectively locked in to position, locking the wear tooth2 to the tooth adaptor 3. The inserted position of the retaining meansis illustrated in schematic sectional view in FIG. 10.

To disassemble the wear tooth 2 from the tooth adaptor 3, a lever meansis inserted into an orifice 15 provided in the second part 8 ofretaining means 4. Once inserted, the lever is moved in a substantiallyarcuate manner, such that the second part 8 of retaining means 4 becomesdisengaged from the first part 7 and is removed from slot 5. Once thesecond part 8 of retaining means 4 are both removed from each slot 5,the wear tooth 2 may be removed from the tooth adaptor 3.

It will be observed that, due to the design of the retaining means, thefirst part 7 need not be removed from the slot 6 in order to remove thetooth 2 from the tooth adaptor 3. Furthermore, due to the design of thefirst part 7, it is easily inserted into the slot 6 and retained thereinin position, during insertion of the second part 8. Furthermore, duringremoval of the second part 8 of retaining means 4, when the lever ismoved in the arcuate manner and the second part 8 rotatably is broughtoutwardly of slot 5, the front surface of first part 7 is against theinward surface of the tooth 2 ensuring easy removal of the second part 8of retaining means 4.

It will be appreciated therefore that the present invention provides aunique locking assembly which, due to its design, is easily able toreleasably secure a wear tooth 2 to a tooth adaptor 3. In use, the weartooth of this design displays high structural integrity providingunrestricted flow of overburden during use of the tooth. The forcespresent in the locked position are illustrated by the arrows in FIG. 10.Minimal wear occurs at the side positions of the tooth 2, where theretaining means is removably inserted.

It will be appreciated that the retaining means may be inserted intoposition by imparting a force to the second part 8, and this may beprovided by striking a hammer or the like against a striking pad 17.

It will be appreciated that the various components of the presentinvention may be constructed of a variety of materials, such as steel orother metal. The retaining means could, of course, be formed of othermaterials, such as plastics, and would be appropriately chosen dependingupon the forces required to be sustained by those components, etc.

The present invention therefore provides a locking assembly 1, and amethod for locking wear teeth 2 to an adaptor 3, which may be used in avariety of applications, such as earthmoving, mining, washery, crushingequipment, or other earthmoving equipment.

It will be appreciated that a variety of shapes of the variouscomponents may be provided whilst still achieving a similar functionaloperation.

For example, FIG. 11 illustrates an alternative embodiment of thepresent invention, whereby, for each pair of first parts 7 of theretaining means 4, a single or connected second part 8 is provided forinsertion in the slot 6. FIG. 11(a) illustrates the first parts 7 readyfor insertion, FIG. 11(b) shows the first parts 7 inserted in the slots6, FIG. 11(c) illustrates the provision of the tooth 2 to the toothadaptor 3, and FIG. 11(d) illustrates the final step of placement of thesecond parts 8 into the slots 7, whereby the tooth is thereafterconnected to the tooth adaptor, ready for use.

In FIG. 12 is shown how the second part is secured and released from itslocked position. As shown in FIG. 12(a), the second part is insertedinto position by rotating it into the slot 6, and then, as shown in FIG.12(b), by striking it with an appropriate dolly and hammer until theclip locks into place. To remove, it may be levered out by a crows foottool as shown in FIG. 12(c).

The arrangement of FIGS. 11 and 12 also highlights the positioning ofthe locking arrangement in an alternative position, that is, rather thanin the side of the tooth, on the top surface.

FIGS. 13, 14 and 15 show another embodiment of the present invention forreleasably locking a wear tooth 2 to a tooth adaptor 3 in which a firstretainer piece 16 and a second retainer piece 17 are held in place by alocking piece 18 which communicates with and releasably locks the firstretainer piece 16 relative to the second retainer piece, and a rigidbracket or bridge 19 extending across a portion of the slot 6 tosubstantially brace the retainer pieces when in the locked position.

The first retainer piece 16 and the second retainer piece 17 eachinclude threaded slots or holes, 21 and 20 respectively, which aresubstantially aligned when the retainer pieces 16 and 17 are installedin the wear tooth slot 6 and tooth adaptor cavity during locking. Thelocking piece 18 is a threaded-screw which complements thethreaded-slots or holes of the first and second retainer pieces 16 and17. The threaded-screw is inserted into the substantially aligned firstretainer piece slot and second retainer piece slot during locking asshown in FIG. 15.

A shown in FIG. 13, the rigid bracket 19 is mounted to the adaptor 2 attwo points on the adaptor surface so as to form a bridge, the positionof the bracket piece 19 being selected by a person skilled in the artsuch that when the second retainer piece 17 is inserted into the wearadaptor 6 and tooth adaptor cavity and releasably locked to the firstretainer piece 16, the bracket piece 19 will contact with the secondretainer piece 17 so as to prevent any substantial movement of theretainer pieces 16 and 17.

All such variations and modifications of such nature should beconsidered to fall within the scope of the invention as broadlyhereinbefore described and as hereinafter claimed.

1. A locking arrangement for releasably locking a wear tooth to a toothadaptor, wherein the wear tooth comprises a cutting edge at a first endof the wear tooth, atop wall, a bottom wall and a pair of opposedsidewalls, each sidewall having an elongate slot therethrough disposedsuch that a longitudinal axis thereof extends in a directionsubstantially aligned cowards the cutting edge, and wherein the toothadaptor is of substantially complementary shape to receive a second endof the wear tooth and comprises a pair of opposed walls and an elongatecavity on each opposed wall adapted to substantially align with arespective slot of the wear tooth when the wear tooth is installed onthe tooth adaptor, the locking arrangement comprising: retaining meansadapted to be installed in each aligned cavity and slot to releasablylock the wear tooth to the tooth adaptor, wherein the retaining meanscomprises a first engaging retaining piece and a second engagingretaining piece adapted to fit in an end-abutting relationship when theengaging retaining pieces are in a locked position, and wherein theengaging retaining pieces are adapted to be released from the lockedposition upon an arcuate force being applied to the engaging retainingpieces.
 2. The locking arrangement of claim 1, wherein a first end ofthe first engaging retaining piece comprises a protruding portionadapted to retain a rearwardly positioned up provided on a first end ofthe second engaging retaining piece when in the locked position, whereinthe second engaging retaining piece is adapted to be pivoted about itssecond end by applying a force in an arcuate manner to the secondengaging retaining piece to release the engaging retaining pieces fromthe locked position.
 3. The locking arrangement of claim 2, wherein thesecond engaging retaining piece comprises an orifice adapted to receivea lever therein, such that the arcuately directed force is appliedthrough the lever for release of the engaging retaining pieces.
 4. Thelocking arrangement of claim 2, wherein the second engaging retainingpiece includes a striking pad adapted for receiving a striking force toengage the engaging retaining pieces in the locked position.
 5. Thelocking arrangement of claim 2, wherein the first end of the secondengaging retaining piece includes a forward portion abutting an innersurface of the wear tooth slot, such that the forward portion isreleasably retained in a forward direction when the engaging retainingpieces are in the locked position.
 6. The locking arrangement of claim2, wherein at least one of the engaging retaining pieces comprises anelastomeric material.
 7. The locking arrangement of claim 2, wherein asecond end of the first engaging retaining piece comprises anelastomeric material.
 8. The locking arrangement of claim 1, wherein theretaining means additionally comprises a rigid bracket extending acrossat least a portion of the tooth adaptor cavity and a locking piece thatcommunicates with, and releasably locks, the engaging retaining piecesrelative to each other when installed in the aligned cavity and slot,wherein the bracket substantially restrains the engaging retainingpieces in the aligned cavity and slot.
 9. The locking arrangement ofclaim 8, wherein a first end of the first engaging retaining piececomprises a protruding portion for receiving a rearwardly positioned lipprovided on a first end of the second engaging retaining piece when theengaging retaining pieces are in a locked position.
 10. The lockingarrangement of claim 8, wherein the locking piece comprises a threadedscrew.
 11. The locking arrangement of claim 10, wherein each engagingretaining piece comprises a threaded hole for receiving the lockingpiece.
 12. The locking arrangement of claim 11, wherein the threadedholes of each engaging retaining piece arc substantially aligned formutually receiving the locking piece when the engaging retaining piecesare installed in the aligned wear tooth slot and tooth adaptor cavity.13. The locking arrangement of claim 8, wherein the rigid bracket isremovably mounted to the tooth adaptor.
 14. The locking arrangement ofclaim 8, wherein the rigid bracket extends transversely across at leasta portion of the adaptor slot.
 15. A method for releasably locking awear tooth to a tooth adaptor, wherein the tooth adaptor comprises acutting edge at a first end of the tooth adaptor, a top wall, a bottomwall and a pair of opposed sidewall, each sidewall having an elongateslot therethrough disposed such that a longitudinal axis thereof extendsin a direction substantially aligned towards the cutting edge, andwherein the tooth adaptor is of substantially complementary shape toreceive a second end of the wear tooth, wherein the tooth adaptorcomprises a pair of opposed walls and an elongate cavity on each,opposed wall adapted to substantially align with a respective slot ofthe wear tooth when the wear tooth is installed on the tooth adaptor,the method comprising the steps of: installing a retaining means in eachaligned cavity and slot to releasably lock the wear tooth to the toothadaptor, wherein the retaining means comprises a first engagingretaining piece and a second engaging retaining piece adapted to fit inan end-abutting relationship when the engaging retaining pieces are in alocked position, and wherein the engaging retaining pieces are adaptedto be released from the locked position upon an arcuate force beingapplied to the engaging retaining pieces.
 16. The method of claim 15,further comprising the steps of positioning a lever in an orifice of thesecond engaging retaining piece and applying an arcuate force to thelever for releasing the engaging retaining pieces.
 17. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising the step of imparting a striking force to astriking pad of the second engaging retaining piece to engage theengaging retaining pieces in the locked position.
 18. The method ofclaim 15, further comprising the steps of extending a rigid bracketacross at least a portion of the tooth adaptor cavity and releasablylocking with a locking piece the engaging retaining pieces relative toeach other when installed in the aligned cavity and slot, wherein thebracket substantially restrains the engaging retaining pieces in thealigned cavity and slot.